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Reconnecting with Nature – a Faith Perspective

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14/11/2013

University of Leeds, UK

Humans have had a major impact on the planet’s natural environment, and this looks set to increase in the future. For example the recently released report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change concluded that there is 95% chance that human interference has markedly altered the Earth’s climate system. Yet still, we continue to alter the natural systems of the planet that is our home. As environmental activists point out ‘there is no planet B’. How can we change this? About 85% of the world’s population profess a faith, and most faiths contain a strong connection between human kind, nature and divinity. Does this connection offer the potential for changing our individual and collective behaviour towards the global changes we are making?

A series of three talks will address this from an Islamic perspective and offer suggestions rooted in scripture to enhance engagement with nature to enable, it is hoped, a healing of the planet.

1. Reconnecting with nature – an Islamic perspective, Fazlun Khalid

2. The Islamic garden as an opportunity for bridge-building between cultures, Emma Clark